Yale Bock's  Instablog

 It is a common refrain 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' Last week, the investment world, a fickle bunch to say the least, decided maybe the Euro currency is going to be saved after all and decided it was "risk on". A month ago, and for the last five months, it has been "risk off" in stock markets all over the world. Does this mean the Euro will be saved? Maybe, and much depends on the next few weeks and the negotiations between large government leaders, institutions like the IMF, and large European investment banks- especially in Germany and France (think Deutsche Bank, Society Generale, etc). Time will tell, but we probably are getting down to the end game over the next few months- Greece either defaults or it doesn't, banks take a bigger haircut than 20% or they don't, and other countries decide to help the situation with capital or they don't.

This week brings a big hurdle in that the investment and commercial banks report earnings. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley- over the last five to ten years these have been disasters- if they don't stink the investment landscape up with big write offs, trading losses, and warnings about exposure in Europe, maybe the market won't turn manic again. Not expecting too much from the financials- either is the whole world.

I wonder if the protesters on wall street ever thought about how people get funding for new drugs, new companies, or hedge currency exposures- probably not, huh?

Nice article on MRI's on Smartphones-http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/business/medical-apps-to-assist-with-diagnoses-cleared-by-fda.html?_r=1&ref=business

More innovation- taking notes just became much easier-

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-14/livescribe-s-jim-marggraff-pushes-a-pen-based-computing-revival.html

I don't necessarily agree with the entire article, but here is an editoriial saying now is a great time to buy a house- hard to argue financing is as cheap as it will ever be-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204774604576629443313035736.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top

As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.

Yale Bock, CFA